Jan Ziolkowski elected to Finnish Academy of Science and Letters

The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters has invited Jan Ziolkowski from Harvard University as an external member. Ziolkowski is a member or corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, and American Philosophical Society as well as a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Academy invites Finnish academics and scientists who have distinguished themselves in their own fields to become members. Membership of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, in common with membership of any other academy of science, is looked on as a considerable achievement in a person’s academic career.

In 2020 the Academy elected 36 new Finnish members and five external members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in their fields. Finnish members must be Finnish citizens; non-citizens are elected as external members.

The persons elected to membership of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters are distinguished academics and scientists, and those choosing them, the existing Academy members, are similarly at the top of their profession. It has been the custom since 1919 for the final vote on the selection of new members to take place at the statutory Spring General Meeting.

The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is a broad-based learned society founded in 1908 with the principal aim of promoting scientific research and acting as a bond between those engaged in advanced research. It currently has over 800 Finnish members and 179 external members, distinguished academics on whom membership has been conferred in recognition of their achievements.

The Academy arranges meetings, discussions and educational events, and also produces scientific publications, issues comments on questions of research and researchers with regard to matters of current interest in society at large and makes proposals concerning science and those engaged in it, thus taking an active part in the long-term planning of science policy. The Academy distributes some two million euros in grants every year, chiefly to young researchers.